Imperial Legitimacy in the Roman Empire of the Third Century: AD
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Imperial Legitimacy in the Roman Empire of the Third Century: AD 193 – 337 by Matthew Kraig Shaw, B.Com., B.A. (Hons), M.Teach. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts University of Tasmania, July 2010 This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Signed: Matthew Shaw iii This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis. This thesis does not contain any material that infringes copyright. Signed: Matthew Shaw iv Abstract. Septimius Severus, according to Cassius Dio, told his sons to enrich the soldiers and look down on all other men (Cass. Dio 77.15.2). This recognised the perceived importance of the army in establishing and maintaining the legitimacy of an emperor. This thesis explores the role of the army in the legitimation of emperors. It also considers whether there were other groups, such as the Senate and people, which emperors needed to consider in order to establish and maintain their position as well as the methods they used to do so. Enriching the soldiers was not the only method used and not the only way an emperor could be successful. The rapid turn over of emperors after Septimius' death, however, suggests that legitimacy was proving difficult to maintain even though all emperors all tried to establish and maintain the legitimacy of their regime. The concept of legitimate authority is explained in relation to legitimacy theory put forward by Max Weber who was one of the earliest to espouse a theory of legitimacy and remains influential, although his work is not without its critics. There are three principles espoused by Weber which allowed emperors to establish and maintain their legitimacy. These are legally proclaimed authority, traditional authority and charismatic authority. By using these categories, the importance of each type to the emperors and how they sought to use them is discussed and conclusions reached about the importance of the army and other groups in the legitimation process. v Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr Geoffrey Adams and Dr Paul Burton for their supervision and feedback on work that was submitted to them during my candidature. Their suggestions were invaluable and the speed at which they were able to get them back to me was greatly appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Dr Paul Gallivan who was my supervisor initially and provided many useful suggestions on the literature I should read and the direction the research should take. I am also grateful to Assoc. Prof Peter Davis for his support, especially in regard to the extra Greek and Latin I was able to do during my candidature. The other History and Classics post-graduate students helped make my candidature enjoyable with their camaraderie and demeanour and for this I thank them. Michael Berry and Rebekah McWhirter’s presence especially helped to make the post-graduate experience a memorable one. The most important fellow post-graduate I would like to acknowledge is Abbie McKay who has been beside me almost every step of the way, providing invaluable support when doing the extra Latin classes and providing a welcome distraction during breaks from tutoring, marking, researching and writing. Finally, I would like to thank those from outside the university – most particularly Chelsea, Tamsyn and Jarrod – for the friendship they have shown. vi Contents Abbreviations.............................................................................................. vii Introduction................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Weber’s Theories of Legitimacy and their Application............ 14 Chapter 2: Legally Proclaimed Legitimacy................................................ 35 Chapter 3: Traditional Legitimacy.............................................................. 70 Chapter 4: Charismatic Legitimacy............................................................ 108 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 146 Bibliography................................................................................................ 159 vii Abbreviations AE L'Année Epigraphique Amm. Marc. Ammianus Marcellinus Aur. Vict. Aurelius Victor Caes. The Book about the Caesars BMC Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum Cass. Dio Cassius Dio CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Cyprian Cyprian Ep. Epistles Digest The Digest of Justinian Ephem. Epig Ephemeris Epigraphica Euseb. Eusebius Vit. Const. The Life of Constantine Eutr. Eutropius HA Historia Augusta viii Alex. Sev. Severus Alexander Aurel. Aurelian Carus Carus, Carinus and Numerianus Comm. Commodus Did. Iul. Didius Julianus Gall. Gallienus Gord. The Gordians Marc. Marcus Aurelius Max. Maximinus Thrax Prob. Probus Sev. Septimius Severus Tac. Tacitus Tyr. Trig. The Thirty Tyrants ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae IRT Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania Herodian Aelius Herodianus ix Lactant. Lactantius Mort. Pers. On the Deaths of the Persecutors Pan. Lat. The Latin Panegyrics Polyb. Polybius Plut. Plutarch Caes. Caesar Num. Numa Sull. Sulla RG The Deeds of the Divine Augustus RIC Roman Imperial Coinage Suet. Suetonius Aug. Augustus Ner. Nero Tac. Tacitus Hist. The Histories Zonar. Zonaras x Zos. Zosimus 1 Introduction: This thesis will explore how Roman emperors during the third century sought to legitimate their regimes and maintain this legitimacy. The sources of political legitimacy, as espoused by Max Weber's work on the subject, are traditional authority, legal authority and charismatic authority. Regimes can be considered legitimate on any one of these three grounds.1 Dio claims Septimius told his sons to ὁμονοε ῖ τε, το ὺ ς στρατιώτας πλουτίζετε, τ ῶ ν ἄλλων πάντων καταφρονε ῖ τε (Cass. Dio 77.15.2)2 as this was the way he believed that they could legitimate their regime and maintain their legitimacy. Enriching the soldiers alone, however, was not sufficient for a regime to gain and maintain its legitimacy and this thesis has discussed that, although enriching the soldiers was an essential part of the emperor's role, there were other factors which were important. Therefore, the role of the army and the role of enriching the soldiery in the legitimation process, in regard to the three bases of legitimate authority which Weber espoused has been considered. The roles of the other factors, such as the people, the Senate and the actions of the emperor, have also been considered in relation to these bases. These categories of legitimation allow the attempts of the emperors to establish and maintain their legitimacy to be assessed. Emperors needed to be regarded as legitimate in order to establish themselves in power. The ways they did this and the groups from which they sought legitimacy 1 M. Weber and S.N. Eisenstadt. On Charisma and Institution Building. (Chicago, 1968), p. 46. 2 'Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers and look down on all other men' 2 have been explored, as were which methods worked and which did not and for whom. The reasons that certain methods worked for some but not for others has also been explored. Conclusions have been drawn from non-literary as well as the literary evidence that survives, such as coinage, which shows how these men tried to represent themselves and legitimise their regimes. The reliability and value of the relevant ancient literature was considered when investigating these emperors. The various emperors and their regimes are not uniformly represented within the sources, however, because the opinion that the author held of these men colour how they are depicted within the texts, as does the reliability of the sources which the surviving literature itself used.3 Weber's work is the starting point for many of the works on theories of legitimacy.4 Weber is important because he was one of the most important social thinkers at the beginning of the twentieth century and was renowned in Germany during his lifetime. He provides a framework for understanding legitimacy5 but 3 The Historia Augusta, for example is not regarded as a reliable source (E.J. Kenny, Latin Literature, (Cambridge, 1982), p. 725) yet it is the source with the most detail for the post-Severan period as both Dio and Herodian are no longer writing about events by this time. Dio did not like Caracalla (for example Dio 77.14.1) or Elagabalus (for example see 80.17.1) and the Historia Augusta is negative towards Gallienus (HA Gall. 4.3). The Historia Augusta, however, is highly complimentary about Claudius Gothicus (HA Claud. 2.1-2) while Herodian presents a largely positive view of Severus Alexander (Herodian 6.9.8). 4 Weber and Eisenstadt (1968), pp. xii-xiii. D. Beetham, The Legitimation of Power (London, 1991), p. 8 and I.L Horowitz, ‘The Norm of Illegitimacy – Ten Years Later’ in B. Denitch, ed., Legitimation of Regimes: International Frameworks of Analysis (London, 1979), p. 23. Also W. Connelly, 'Introduction: Legitimacy and Modernity' in W.Connelly (ed.), Legitimacy and the State (Oxford, 1994), p. 8. 5 J.G. Merquior, Rousseau and Weber: Two Studies in the theory of Legitimacy. (London, 1980), p. 207. 3 not a blueprint